This invention relates to an improved safety restraint system or mechanism particularly suitable for use by ambulatory patients, and to an improved inertial reel suitable for use with such system.
In the restraint system disclosed in our above-noted U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,098, a patient is adapted to be supported by a flexible cord or tether, the upper end of which is wound onto a spring-loaded inertial reel that is guided for rolling movement on a rail that is imbedded in the ceiling of a nursing home, or the like. The lower end of the cord is attached by a yoke either to a pair of hook-shaped members which engage beneath the armpits of a patient, or to the shoulders of a vest-like garment which is worn by the patient. In either case the attached patient is free to walk beneath the overhead rail with his or her forward motion tending to maintain a slight tension in the cord, and to draw the inertial reel along the rail so that the reel remains, in essence, above the head of the associated patient. If while walking the patient should stumble or fall, the attached cord is unwound suddenly from the reel, thereby causing an inertial mechanism in the reel automatically to increase the resistance against the withdrawal of the cord, which therefore causes the attached patent to be lowered lowly to the floor.
In the above-described system the cord is attached to the patient by an overhead yoke-like member, so that the patient's hands and arms are free. While this is sometimes advantageous for the less than critically infirmed, it has the disadvantage that the patient has nothing to hold onto to help steady his or herself while walking. Moreover, while the overhead reel is free to roll horizontally in response to the forward or rearward motion of the attached patient, this sometimes may be a disadvantage because the reel is not always in the same vertical position relative to the patient. Also, such prior system did not include any means for braking the horizontal movement of the reel on the associated rail, nor did it embody any means for releasing the pressure in its hydraulically-operated inertial reel selectively to allow freedom of movement of the attached patient at certain times.
It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide an improved safety restraint system of the type described which is designed to form a far more stable support for ambulatory patients than prior such systems.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved safety restraint system of the type described which includes, in addition to the flexible, patient-supporting tether or cord, a rigid, adjustable hand grip mechanism for moving the overhead inertial reel horizontally along the associated support rail, and for rotating the reel about a vertical axis to enable reversal of the horizontal movement of the reel and associated support mechanism, when desired.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a restraint system of the type described and an improved inertial reel, which is connected to a braking device that automatically stops horizontal movement of the reel when the attached patient accidentally falls.
Other objects of the invention will be apparent hereinafter from the specification and from the recital of the appended claims, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.